Mayfair Gold is taking advantage of soaring gold prices to boost the quality and value of the mineral resource at its exploration project outside Matheson.
The Vancouver open-pit mine developer said in an update this week that higher gold prices have enabled them to increase the amount of indicated gold resources at its Fenn-Gib project.
Mayfair has done a slew of drilling there since acquiring the project from Pan American Silver in late 2020 and has outlined an area to site a possible open-pit operation, 20 kilometres east of Matheson.
A prefeasibility study is underway, which is an early stage analysis of a potential mine.
In a project update this week, Mayfair said the actual resource at Fenn-Gib remains mostly unchanged from a year ago — up one per cent – but high gold price allows them to lower their cut-off grade, which now stands at 0.3 grams per tonne.
A cut-off grade is the grade of that a deposit can be economically mined and dictates which drill intercepts can and can’t be used when compiling a mineral resource. The cut-off is determined by the cost to mine a deposit and the price of the commodity.
The company said its current indicated gold resource is a better reflection of today’s gold prices. The indicated resource now stands at 4.3 million ounces, up from 3.38 million ounces, based on a gold price of US$2,000 rather than the previous US$1,765.
An indicated resource means the quantity, grade or quality of an ore deposit is such that it supports a level of confidence that it can be mined. It’s on a higher scale than an inferred resource where there is less certainty.
In a statement, Mayfair's interim CEO, Darren McLean, said they envision various mining scenarios, ranging from small-scale, higher grade mining opportunities to lower grade, bulk tonne options.
The company has also started a metallurgical test program to better understand how to process the mined material.
Mayfair didn’t say in its release when the prefeasibility study will be complete but mentioned a feasibility study will start in 2025.
Fenn-Gib, Mayfair’s only asset, is located just off Highway 101 in the prolific Abitibi gold belt of northeastern Ontario.
